Nathanael Szobody on In response to Lora
What God wants us to know of his will he has already revealed; what we ask to know concerning our calling he has already given. The problem is that we do not take seriously what he has revealed to be his will, and we often do not recognize the freedom that we have to use what he has given.
Nathanael Szobody on In response to Frenchy’s question
If the Bible is our authority on all matters concerning our relationship with God, and if the fear of God is truly the beginning of all knowledge, then the only true philosophy is theology, and theology should only be used to strengthen our relationship with God, and by extension, with other people. Read More
Nathanael Szobody on And this is the wonder of life, that each man who is mindful of himself knows what no science knows.
–Soren Kierkegaard
Nathanael Szobody on When God ‘hides his face’ he is in fact involved so intimately in our life that we do not recognize him; he is hidden behind his own intimacy. Read More
Nathanael Szobody on If time only exists insofar as it can be measured, then it is not too difficult to imagine the absence of time. For certainly in eternity there is movement and succession of events.
It is written in Genesis that the heavenly bodies were placed to measure dates and seasons–that is, time. So the absence of time is not something mystical if it simply means that there is no repetition or cycle by which to define it.
All this is but vain speculation.
Nathanael Szobody on If time is the succession of physical events, i.e., if all motion should stop then time also would be suspended, then it is not too difficult of a problem to understand that there was no time before creation. For as soon as God commands that something physical ‘be’, and it ‘is’, then time begins. For otherwise there is no physical motion to be time.
Nathanael Szobody on Martin Luther says in his commentary on Genesis that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not an evil tree in itself. In fact it was a good tree, for certainly knowledge is good; how else then can God be called good? The evil was clearly in defying the prohibition concerning the tree. Read More
Nathanael Szobody on Our effectual calling to be the people of God, as individuals into a body, was not to complete our self-improvement project, nor to make us happy, nor to get us into heaven, nor to make us successful here on earth. We were chosen, called, and made holy through pain, suffering, sacrifice and death in Christ to make a dwelling place for God; to enjoy a ‘communion’ or loving presence with him in which all other blessings and pursuits find their fulfilling role. Read More
Nathanael Szobody on It is not that Jesus’ commands have been tried and found lacking; it is that they have not been tried.
–John Armstrong
Nathanael Szobody on IF you’re reading this it must mean that you find some value in the recently discovered pastime of blogging. Personally I never was one to surf the internet in search of random information/entertainment. But the blogging culture seems to have quickly become one of ‘clicks.’ It seems that people have certain blogs they go to, be they about news, or interests, or friends or just plain hot air.
I am incouraged that Americans have again seen the value of a public forum with the free exchange of ideas, but it seems that blogs have become more of a means of exclusivism that open exchange. We go to those blogs that are related to where we are in life, unwittingly bypassing the wealth of information that could help jolt us out of our comfort zone and come face to face with ideas that make us uncomfortable. It in effect blinds us to what is happening in other parts of society. Whereas traditionally when we browse the newspaper we can’t help but come across any range of topics within our society.
Finally, many blogs serve what we seem to have an insatiable desire for: random bits of information and opinion that have very little meaning outside of thier narrow context–often meant purely for entertainment. For this reason on my blog I attempt not to gain a ‘following,’ nor to entertain, but to perhaps provoke a bit of edifying thought on some more universally implicit topics in the midst of a hectic day. A futile endeavor in modern American culture? Perhaps, but I haven’t given up yet.